Madison’s Linda Hooker named state’s top secondary art teacher

Madison High School art teacher Linda Hooker used the carved end of a square eraser as an ink stamp to create a four-block mosaic on a piece of paper.

Then, turning the eraser, she did it again.

“See how you make a different design?” Hooker said.

Hooker, who has taught art at Madison schools for 40 years, was named 2013 Secondary Art Educator of the Year by the Michigan Art Education Association. Hooker received the recognition at the association’s annual conference Oct. 27 in Traverse City.

The ink stamp demonstration was just an example of the enthusiasm Hooker exudes when she talks about teaching art.

“I just love what I do. I love seeing the kids get excited,” Hooker said. “I just try to teach all the things that I would want to know.”

For the approximately 350 students per year that Hooker teaches, that means everything from drawing to print making, design, jewelry, book making, mosaics, painting, and calligraphy.

Hooker proudly showed some of her students’ work, from a “steampunked” version of the Mona Lisa, to a children’s alphabet book with the letters in finely drawn calligraphy, to small lanterns incorporating design and color.

“The first time I started telling them about (the lanterns), they were OK, and then when they saw one that was finished, they got all excited,” Hooker said. “So I love to see them get happy about something and can’t wait to come to class.”

Hooker, 63, who grew up in Adrian, loved drawing and couldn’t wait for the Sunday comics, which she then practiced drawing herself to improve her skills in hopes of going to an art school she saw advertised in magazines.

“I couldn’t wait for the days we had art (at school),” she said.

She attended Drager Middle School, graduated from Adrian High School, then got a bachelor’s degree from Siena Heights College (now university) and a master’s degree from Eastern Michigan University, with a break for a year in Germany while she was attending Siena Heights.

After some substitute teacher work, she was hired full time at Madison and has been there ever since. Though she teaches just high school students now, she has taught all grade levels.

Hooker believes in the right-brain (creative) and left-brain (analytical, logical) theory of human understanding, and she wants all of her students to feel like they can excel.

“We’re not all good test takers, and that’s the way I was,” she said.

Artistic talent isn’t a prerequisite to be successful in her class, which teaches about materials, putting things together and design, Hooker said.

Madison superintendent Jim Hartley said it is Hooker’s passion for her subject matter and her students that makes her an outstanding teacher.

“She has provided a great gift for a lot of her students over a lot of years,” Hartley said.

While she already could have retired, Hooker said she wants to keep teaching.“It’s so wonderful to work because you want to work,” she said.

She was delighted with a crystal vase and other gifts bestowed on her by fellow art teachers in the county in recognition of her award.

“It doesn’t change anything,” she said of the award. “But you just feel proud.”